Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has weighed and measured the recent destruction that has put the Dow Jones Industrial Average on track for its worst start to a December in about 86 years and he appears to have his own conclusion.

U.S. stocks ended mostly higher on Tuesday in a turbulent session as key equity benchmark indexes tried to break away from their lowest levels since the autumn of 2017. The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged at 2,546. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 83 points, or 0.4%, to 23,678. The Nasdaq Composite finished higher by 0.4% to 6,784. On Monday, The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished at their lowest level since last year's fall. Stocks have struggled to claw back lost territory against a wall of worries including the deterioration in global growth and the Federal Reserve's tightening of financial conditions. The central bank kicked off its two-day meeting, which investors expect will culminate in the Fed's fourth rate hike of the year. In company news, shares of Boeing Co. are up 4% after the airplane manufacturer late-Monday announced a dividend increase and a share-buyback program.

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